I'd assumed all those screw-on 0.42x fisheye adaptors were made by the same
manufacturer and simply relabeled by various brands, but perhaps they're
not. Mine is surprisingly good (as $8 pawn shop toys go). Lots of barrel
distortion, sure, and edge softness, sure. But I wouldn't kick it out of my
camera bag. Mine is considerably better optically than a peephole.
Here are a couple of cityscapes that adequately demonstrate most relevant
qualities of these adaptors:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1005538&a=7442498&p=27492677&Sequence=0&res=high
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1005538&a=7442498&p=26270204&Sequence=0&res=high
Both were taken using a Zuiko 50/1.8 and 0.42x adaptor - equivalent focal
length is approximately 21mm. Some vignetting/corner darkening is
noticeable.
Combining the adaptor with a conventional 28mm wide angle produces a
circular image with more of a true fisheye effect, at the expense of more
pronounced edge softness. I prefer to use the adaptor with 35mm and 50mm
lenses.
These inexpensive 0.42x adaptors have some advantages that merit serious
consideration: Where else are you going to find an f/1.8, 1.4 or even 1.2
21mm lens (depending on which normal lens you use)? And you can use the
filters you already own between the conventional lens and the 0.42x adaptor
- beats heck out of having to buy another, larger and more expensive
polarizer, for example.
Lex
===
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 09:01:25 +1100
From: wayneharridge@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
...the screw on "fisheye" (0.42X) adapters aren't much better.
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